


Deadwalkers

by commanderpillowlips



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 (TV) RPF, clexa - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Post-Apocalypse, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, but dont get me wrong they fall in love, just very very slowly, more plot centric than ship centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-14 10:48:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11781573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commanderpillowlips/pseuds/commanderpillowlips
Summary: Its about five months after the onslaught of an apocalypse. Shit went down and Clarke finds herself amongst a group of other survivors. They are making their way toward the coast, as one does in an apocalypse, to hopefully find solace and new life. Along the way a few strays join their group...





	1. The Beginning of the End

"Close the door."

"The door is the only source of light we have!"

"Yes, and it's also the perfect amount of ajar to accommodate our lovely flesh eating friends."

"Would you all shut the hell up i'm about the change the batteries in the flashlight." I replied.

A small, piercing beam of light lit up a crowded room. There was a dirt floor, and cardboard boxes strewn haphazardly, fashioned into seats and beds for the individuals hiding there. The atmosphere was casually tense, the sort of casual that one becomes accustomed to after fighting for survival every day. 

"Thank you Clarke. The dark makes everything worse." a voice called out to me before turning to close the door.

"Well you aren't fighting anymore so consider the pleasure all mine." I was tired, the words straining to reach the ears of the traveling party. "Lets get some rest maybe. We can get an early start tomorrow and use the dark of the morning to hide our presence. Raven, Octavia you can have first watch- we will switch off from there." 

Words of agreement were murmured and those sleeping settled down into the comfiest corners they could find. Night continued onward, the sounds of the dead not far off. All of the noises of night eventually blended into one another, the way one gets used to the sound of crickets at bedtime, or a train traveling by.

\----

The group consisted of five people; three girls, myself (Clarke), Raven, and Octavia and the two boys Monty and Bellamy. They were among a small number of survivors of a large and lethal apocalypse. An illness emerged in the late months of 2025 and spread so quickly no one had hardly any time to prepare for the change from casual living to every day survival. Those that weren't taken by the sickness soon fell victim to the harshness of the natural world and the danger of not being prepared for it. The virus itself continues to be a mystery, all that is known of it is that it infects the immune system, making it almost hilariously easy to become seriously sick. From there, the infected deteriorate within a matter of days- weight is lost in tens of pounds, food cant be kept down, fevers run high and bodily fluids seem to be bursting to escape the poison infested body. Death is imminent. If that was the end of it it wouldn't be so bad, but once the infected die from the illness they reanimate into the weak versions of themselves possessed by illness. The result is skin to bone, oozing, moaning, once alive but now dead, sacks of flesh roaming the globe as if zombies are now a new thriving species. It has been five months since the downfall of civilization, military couldn't stop it, nuclear weapons couldn't stop it, all the great minds of science couldn't stop it, and somehow a group of teenagers are still walking around... 100% alive. 

\----

"Alright shitpots time to wake up, let me and Octavia get some rest i'm tired of listening to dead people groaning."

I awoke quickly, startled by the sudden noise and jostling. Monty followed suit soon thereafter, the pairs switched spots and the new watchmen settled in preparing for the last few hours until we moved on.

"Why exactly does Bellamy get to skip out on keeping watch?" Monty groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Because he stayed up all night last week and let us have a full night of rest. At first I thought it was him being nice but now i'm thinking it was a ploy to cash in on some special treatment down the line." I responded.

"God. He's such a capricorn.." 

It was silent for a long while. At first watch shifts were treated as a dreaded duty. It was terrifying. But as time went along we all got used to the permanent danger, it was just another opportunity to have some time with your thoughts.

As morning approached I began to prepare for our next trek. We would be walking 12 miles today, and needed desperately to make it to the next town. Food and supplies were in short stock, and the group was slowly starting to become frantic. 

\----

"Good morning sunshineeeeees, it's a beautiful day! The mutated birds are chirping, the dead grass smells amazing covered in morning dew, and our skin eating neighbors took a very brief vacation down the road so we need to leave before they come back and say hi!"

"Wow Clarke," Bellamy said. "You get better at morning messages every day." 

"What can I say, it's a gift." I replied back. 

"Hey so are we gonna get to Lewiston today or do we have to eat edible flowers again?" Octavia chimed in from her cardboard box tent on the floor.

"That was a beautiful humbling experience and you know it!" Monty replied.

"Thank you Monty" I said. "Once again your unwavering positivity is to be envied. And yes O, we will get to Lewiston today. That is if you get your big butt off the ground and get a move on."

"Alright, alright you convinced me. Put the claws away Princess." 

This was a very fun (not really) nickname that I was so lucky to receive due to my aloofness and uptight demeanor when we first decided to all stick together. There were a lot of things going on, I had to deal with loss and death and change and it caused me to hide behind a mask of a need for control and order. I already had to respond to every aspect of my life changing, I wanted to be in control again. I needed to be in control again. 

\----

Bellamy poked his head out of the door and peered around the corner both ways.

"Okay we're good, but not for long. Come on."

We filed out of our home for the night one at a time, Bellamy then Raven then myself then Monty and Octavia in the rear. We slowly tiptoed across the street to the sidewalk on the other side. We had slept in a shed next to a house in a small residential neighborhood. Most of the houses were locked and we were rushed to find shelter, so a single room behind a large wooden door with a padlock was good enough for us. As we crossed the street I looked behind us and saw a huddle of about 15 deadwalkers shuffling the opposite way. 

"So far so good," I whispered to the group.

We finished the short journey to the exit of the neighborhood and found ourselves on the main road. 

"Okay, safe and sound. Now it's map time!" Octavia gushed. 

At the beginning of the end of the world Octavia was well... essentially useless. The only help she provided was the occasional peppy comment and a lighthearted mood, but other than that it was all complaints and superficial bullshit. We really only kept her around because her and Bellamy are siblings and we needed his braun. But, since then she has come into her own and really progressed as a person. She's an excellent fighter, with lots of knowledge in botany and cartography- we leave most of the navigating to her (because she's good at it but also because she insists). 

"We are going to have to take a few main roads unless we want to make our 12 mile day a 17 mile day." She said with a furrow of her brow.

"Fuck.. are you sure? Are there really no back roads we can take?" I asked, equally as worried. 

Main roads were not fun, and we avoided them as much as we could. I genuinely think after the deadwalkers are well... dead.. they still retain their sense of direction, because main roads, highways, and thoroughfares always, and I mean ALWAYS have the highest concentration of deadwalkers.

"Yeah, all the backroads and canals go in directions we aren't heading. The freeway just a bit ahead of us is essentially a straight shot right into Lewiston." she said. 

"I think a group vote is in order." Bellamy said. "All those in favor of short and effective route to food and safety town?" 

Yep there's Bellamy, always keeping his opinions and thoughts so carefully veiled as to never pressure the group one way or the other.

He was the only one who raised his hand.

"Oh come on really??! What could be so bad about a nice highway?" he asked.

"Literally everything." Raven responded.

"Yeah i'm alright with more edible flowers if it means I don't have to hide underneath a Dodge Caravan for another three hours waiting for a hoard to pass." I said. "Looks like it's decided, lets go!" 

Bellamy groaned but rose to his feet in compliance, and as he did so we heard a gunshot in the distance.


	2. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey continues for the group, but tensions are raised with the possibility of some new survivors.

The shot came from the neighborhood that we had just left. Birds flew away from their respective trees in flocks and in one short moment the tone of my group went from casually tense to critically tense. 

"Lets not stick around to find out who caused that." Monty said with wide eyes.

"But what if someone back there is in trouble?" I asked. "They wouldn't have fired if they didn't have to, no one is that stupid." It was silent as the rest of them pondered the situation. "Come one we haven't encountered another survivor in weeks!"

"No Clarke he's right.." Raven replied with a sigh after a long moment, "That shot is gonna draw in all the deadwalkers in a hearing radius, that means the hordes from the freeway and all the stragglers in the woods. We have to go and we have to go now." 

I flipped my head around to look in the direction where the shot came from. Who was over there? I knew Raven and Monty were right, but I didn't want them to be. Whoever fired that gun is about to be in serious shit, I just hope they're smart enough (and strong enough)to get out safely. I nodded my head towards the group, signaling my hesitant agreement. We got all of our belongings in order in a manner of moments and headed across the main road into the woods on the other side of the shoulder. There was no trail, so we would have to find our way by heading due north until we ran into an old farm road about 7 miles ahead. From there we could follow the road for another 10 miles, and then (hopefully) reach Lewiston and stay there for a few days to get out bearings. 

"Alright let's hurry." Monty said

From the neighborhood behind us there arose sounds of struggle. Grunting, yelling, several more shots... and a scream. 

"Alright let's hurry faster!"

\----

We got about 500 steps into the woods before we ran into an obstacle, a fleshy human eating obstacle. Octavia practically jumped at the opportunity and retrieved her machete strapped to her thigh. With one fluid motion she shoved the blade between the eyes of the deadwalker, and yanked it back out- the body falling onto the forest floor with a thump. Three more followed their friend to us and we disposed of them quickly and efficiently, there wasn't any time to play around and try creative ways to kill like we usually do, this situation was different. Bellamy and Raven usually help each other make "Fatalities", borrowing the name from that old Xbox game. One of them will lure a single deadwalker into an open area and the other will kill them in the weirdest, most gruesome, Macgyver way possible. So far there has been death by falling microwave, firecracker in the ear, head on collision with a moped, and my personal favorite, crushed by a porta potty. They are the only two who participate. Octavia is very straight to the point with her combat and believes that any extra time put in than necessary is time wasted. As for Monty and myself, we just cant stomach it. It was pretty smooth sailing for the next few miles, we made good time and benefitted from the fact that most of the deadwalkers in the area headed towards the commotion in the opposite direction. We were all walking at a steady pace through the aspens around us when Raven turned to me and asked an odd question.

"Do you wish that we had more people traveling with us?" 

I was taken a back for a moment because 1) it seemed almost like an accusation and 2) we very rarely speak about our circumstances. We live day to day as if the lifestyle we were forced into is how its always been. Acknowledging a potential flaw in the way our group operates or suggesting a change to the very fabric of our survival is not something that we speak much of. Though we think about very little else. 

"Um." I decided to just be truthful, lying doesn't support strong relationships. "On a practical level, yes and no. More people would mean more skill sets, more strength, and more knowledge. More people would also mean more mouths to feed, more mouths that complain, higher likelihood to disagree on large decisions, and more difficulty finding places to set up camp." I hesitated before continuing. "But on a personal, albeit selfish, level... yes."

Raven looked at me with a silent command of "continue", but her gaze wasn't hurt or quizzical, it was understanding. As if she already knew what I would say, but she knew that I needed to talk about it to someone, to no longer hold in my feelings and desires. 

"I love you all so mu-" I started.

"I don't need a disclaimer or an apology for how you feel Clarke. Your desire for other companions doesn't make your love for me any less intense or valid. Continue, but without the bullshit this time." 

I have always admired her bluntness.

"I miss meeting new people. I miss having someone be a mystery, having to prod at them for their thoughts and feelings about different things, getting to know them. Disagreeing on certain topics but slowly understanding why they feel that way and learning to accept it. I want more friends. You all know me so well, and I know you so well, and that familiarity is comforting but well... familiar." I looked up at her to gauge her reaction and was surprised to find a small smile forming.

"I'm glad you finally fessed up." was all she said.

We continued to walk in silence. The sounds of the woods around us were slowly lulling me into a sleepwalk. 

"Hey can we stop for a break soon?" Monty asked before I could beat him to it.

We looked at each other, looked around us to assess potential danger, and agreed that we probably needed a breather. Bellamy found a shady spot amongst some trees and we all sat, and tried to rehydrate. As I sat down on a greener patch of grass I heard some shuffling and quiet voices in the distance.

"Wait, shhhh, shut up do you guys hear that?" I said, looking behind us back into the thicker woods.

"Are those people? Those sound like LIVE people noises?" Raven said.

"Yeah... yeah I think so. What do we do?"

"Well" Bellamy started. "We have a few options, option number 1 is we hide and see who they are, option number 2, we fight them, option number 3... we run away." 

"Personally i'm in favor of option number 2. That requires the least amount of energy." Monty replied. We glanced amongst each other looking for any sign of dissent, and when none was found we very slowly and very quietly packed up our things.

In a whisper I said, "Alright, we need a vantage point for better visibility, Monty and Octavia, you're the smallest and most limber so you find a tree to climb up, one with lots of cover. Raven, Bellamy, and myself will find a spot on the ground." There were nods of agreement. "If anything goes wrong we will fend off potential enemies while you two get back on the ground, from there we fight as we always do."

"Sounds like a plan Princess." Raven replied, "Everyone be safe, and be fucking quiet!"

Everyone got in their positions and waited patiently. About fifteen minutes went by until the footsteps got close enough to make out clearly. But, then they faltered and eventually... stopped. I looked around at Bellamy and Raven with a worried, quizzical look, and they returned the gaze with a mutual shrug. We waited longer for any change in circumstance. It was so silent that I could hear everyone's breathing around me. The light of the afternoon was drifting down through the branches of the trees, the rustling of squirrels and mice on the forest floor blended into the natural sounds around us. For a moment, I forgot where I was and what I was doing. I forgot how abnormal my life was, everything seemed okay for a moment. I was snapped back into reality by Octavia's voice above us.

"Hey. Pssst. I saw them for a moment, not enough to make out any details or facial features, but I did see how many there were. There were four, maybe five. Not sure about gender. They came to the edge of the clearing, stopped for about two minutes, then continued west across the edge of the clearing, not coming near enough to us for me to see them clearly." There was a pause. "I think they may have seen us."

"No they couldn't have," Bellamy said. "We are too well hidden and we didn't leave any sign of being here. It's common for groups to avoid clearings because it leaves them vulnerable."

We waited ten more minutes before meeting back on the ground. We talked for a little bit about the potential danger of our mysterious friends, and decided that we would increase our pace so we could get to Lewiston and a place with shelter before dark, and on the journey there we would stay armed and alert, with no breaks or staying in one place too long. The farm road was dead ahead, so we had about 10 miles to go. 

\----

The journey was quiet. We were more serious due to the potential danger we might run into. I was extremely paranoid. Despite knowing the party had already continued onward I couldn't help but feel like we were walking along side them. 

\----

We finally arrived at Lewiston around nightfall. The town was quiet since we entered through a side road. A few deadwalkers met us along the road, but they were casual kills and didn't pose much of a threat. Octavia and Bellamy were glad to have some sport, something to distract them from the long day we had. We found an adequate, secure, farmhouse to make "home" for a few days while we stocked up on supplies. It was large and white, with a wrap around porch. A large garage along the side, and an open green yard, overgrown from lack of upkeep- but beautiful none the less. There was an oak tree out front, with a tire swing hanging from a branch, swaying slightly from the breeze. 

"You know the drill." I started, "Scope the place, kill any deadwalkers, we'll pile them tomorrow morning."

I started around the house, checking any corners and outside doors. The yard and surrounding area looked secure and under control. Everything was quiet.

"Alright, lets clear the inside."

"You lead Clarke." Monty said, a bit apprehensively.

I stepped up onto the porch, gun raised in a ready position. All of a sudden I was afraid. Everything pointed to this being a routine clearing. I've done it a million times already. Something was different about this, i'm not sure what- but I was uneasy. I took one step, then another, and another, until I was right in front of the door. I raised my free hand to reach toward the handle, my fingers touched the cold metal, and before I could get a firm grip the door eased open in front of me. As I raised my gaze from the floor and looked into the house I realized our new home was already occupied, and I locked eyes with a girl sitting in a large chair in the middle of the room, she was expecting us.

"Well hello. It's a pleasure to finally meet our new friends." She said with a knowing smirk on her face.


	3. Not the Most Welcoming Hosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The traveling party meets those already occupying the house they thought would be an oasis. An evaluation begins that chooses the fate of Clarke and her friends. Could it mean a new friend, or a deadly new foe?

I was in shock for a second that seemed like an eternity. All of my worries and paranoia throughout the day were valid. They all reigned true. Feeling uneasy about the house, feeling as if we were being watched or followed. I tried to convince myself that it was just anxiety but I was right. And now here we are in a farmhouse, with another group of people- people that could want to hurt us. You can never truly know the motives of other survivors, you just have to be wary and find out through patience.

"I... I.. uh.." I started to say, my emotions and thoughts too jumbled to form a coherent sentence. 

Bellamy stepped in not long into my rambling. "We're really sorry, we didn't know anyone was already occupying this house. In our defense there arent many people around, bumping into others isn't something we are used to. We don't mean any trouble and we'll be on our way if you'd like us to leave."

"Oh that's not necessary." The girl replied, "You see, we need to assess the potential risk of your party being a threat to ours. But by the looks of it.." she scanned us up and down, taking in our appearances, "I don't think you'll be much of a problem." 

She was tall and thin but toned, with long blonde hair that was tied up so it wouldn't get in her face. Her eyes were dark and calculating, it seemed like she could stare right into your soul. Every glance was mischievous and daunting and dangerous.

"Hey now blondie watch your tone, we have a very wide range of skill sets!" Raven chimed in before Octavia smacked her on the shoulder with an unspoken warning of, "shut UP you dumb ass!!"

"Sass will not help your case. But I had a nice day so I won't tell her about your little outburst." The girl said with a smile. 

She seemed to be the only other one here, I wondered who she could be talking about. Octavia said she saw four or five individuals in the forest today. Assuming this girl was a part of that group there should be three or four more people. Where were they?

She continued, answering my question, "If you would be so kind as to follow me this way, we can start your evaluation right away." 

"Why should we cooperate?" I said. "You're the only one in this room and there are five of us."

"Well that's simple, if you don't we kill you."

\----

With really no other option besides jumping out of a window, we decided to test our luck and followed the girl back through the rest of the front room, through a kitchen, and up the stairs into a large loft. In that room there were four more people. Two gathered around a table looking at what appeared to be a map, one sitting in a wooden chair, feet perched on the card table, whittling a block of cedar wood, and the last looking out an open window, her back to us. 

"We have visitors here ready for us to discuss their fate." Our guide announced. She gestured for some of us to sit at the two remaining chairs, the others to stand behind us. I took one chair and Octavia took the other. Bellamy stood directly behind his sister, and Raven and Monty took places behind me.

"Lets make this quick and easy." said the one with the knife. She was a tall and strong girl, with wavy copper brown hair, piercing eyes, and sharp cheekbones. Everything about her exuded intense knowledge and power. The two next to her at the table were boys. One very scrawny with shaggy dark hair and a hat on, the other was exactly the opposite. He was tall dark, handsome... and intimidatingly large. It was almost comical to see them sit next to each other. 

"Do you want to participate this time Boss?" she directed towards the girl behind her 

The girl at the window turned around and as soon as I saw her I understood why she was in charge. She had long, thick hair braided into sections framing her face in a way that drew my gaze directly to her eyes. Once I was there I was met with the most intense, commanding eyes I had ever seen. Her power was menacing, but a part of me was challenged by it. I wanted to make her question her power.

"Yes of course," she turned toward me, "if you and your companions are ready I would like to begin."

"Why do you assume I'm the leader?" I asked her, offended but also intrigued at how quickly she seemed to gauge the hierarchy within my group. 

"Well, was I incorrect in my assumption?" she countered.

"No you were right I just w-"

"I was right, so there is no further need to discuss the matter." she said, "My name is Lexa, the boys are Lincoln and Jasper, your guide is Echo, and the remaining is Anya. What do you go by?"

"My name is Clarke, next to me is Octavia, Raven has the long hair, behind me is Monty, and Bellamy is on the other side. What would you like from us today? We don't mean any trouble. And it's a little bit ridiculous that we have to go to such a great extent to prove our friendliness. We could have been gone and out of your hair as soon as we walked in." I was starting to get annoyed with the situation.

"That is not the way we do things." Lexa said back to me. She was cold and straight to the point. Strictly business. "We will have a mature conversation, if you are capable of such, and afterwards my friends and I will decide if we would fare better off with you away from us or with you dead." 

"Alright!!! thats so s-", Raven said, about to start into a flurry of curses. Bellamy restrained her and clapped a hand over her mouth. 

"This is really not a good time." he whispered into her ear. 

I nodded toward Lexa, giving my approval, and confident in my ability to sway her opinion of us. From then forward she asked us a few questions, most of them directed toward me, but the others received at least one question directed solely at them. It seemed as if she had done this many times. Each question was a hypothetical question, 'what would you do in this situation, how would you handle that' and so on and so forth. After 10 questions it was silent for a single minute. For that entire minute Lexa and I held each other's gaze, trying to get inside the other's mind, see each other's motive. 

Finally, she spoke- breaking the hold we had. "I will speak with my companions. You will have our decision shortly. Lincoln, insure they stay in the room." 

They disappeared around a corner. I took this opportunity to turn to my team and see if they had any ideas for potential escape, or fight tactics. "Anyone know how we can get our of this?" I whispered.

Octavia was the first one to speak, "The only possibility I see is taking out Mr. Tall Drink of Water over there and then making a break for it, we could run down the stairs and barricade the door closed on our way out, then go out the front door and down the road until we reach another house. From there we hope there aren't any deadwalkers inside and we hold our own when they inevitably come to murder us." 

"I think that's a risk I am willing to take." Monty said.

"Yeah I really don't like the look of these guys Clarke." Bellamy said, "And I don't like how that guy keeps looking at you O." This warranted a surprised, yet flattered response from Octavia. "The sooner we can escape the better. They didn't confiscate our weapons so we can just pistol whip him and get the hell out of here."

We got in ready positions, despite the intimidation we all felt all five of us could surely take him. 

"You may be able to beat Lincoln if he's alone, but you will surely lose trying to fight all of us." Echo said, surprising us because we thought we had more time. "I understand, it's a total last ditch effort to have control of a situation again, to be on the offensive. It just won't really work. Lexa has decided that we will keep you around because of your knowledge and experience with technology, namely from the two scrawny ones.." 

"Hey!!" Raven and Monty replied simultaneously.

She continued through the interruption. "You see we have a radio that we need fixed, and despite our brain and braun, we're not the most tech savvy bunch. Im not even sure the Boss over here has touched a smartphone, let alone an old FM radio." The comment earned a glare from Lexa, though not a malicious one. "If you prove yourselves useful we will let you go, if we ever come across each other after that we will show no mercy in eliminating you as a threat."

"Monty and Raven will fix your radio, and then we'll never see each other again... hopefully. You're awful hosts." I said, drawing pleasure from the discomfort Lexa seemed to experience by being teased so lightheartedly after making such a serious death threat.


	4. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day with the groups new captors is... eventful. Raven makes up some fitting nicknames.

The night passed slowly. We all shared a room in the basement, it was large enough to accommodate us and had two king sized beds and a couch. The floor was a deep brown wood and the walls had this horribly charming floral wallpaper, covered in daisies and poppies. There was no window so it was dark and a little musty, but we were all so tired we were just excited for a bed and for a nights sleep. Since we were already on the brink of death and knew our services were needed we only had one person keep watch at a time. I volunteered for the first shift. Everyone passed out immediately and I was left alone with my thoughts in the dark room that acted as our jail cell. I was thinking of scenarios where we could have acted in a different way to maximize our chances of a better, less harsh, outcome. Maybe we weren't friendly enough, maybe we should have answered Lexa's questions better, all these scenarios were appearing in my head, I wanted to save us, to prove to my group that they were right in trusting me to lead them. I just couldn't think of anything that would result in our freedom from capture and harmless escape. We were stuck here for now. I sat against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. My eyes grew heavy and I slowly drifted off to sleep.

\----

A loud bang woke me up. I looked around and the others were woken up by the same sound. I started to form a sentence when the same sound shocked me once again. It was a gunshot. 

Octavia and Bellamy rushed to the door and started banging on it. Though their efforts were for not. No one came and shots continued to fire off. 

"There has to be deadwalkers around the property that's the only explanation." I said. 

"This could be our big break. Let ole bitey kill our captors, then we wait it out and leave when the commotion is over." Bellamy said.

"We could be waiting here for days. Besides, it would be smarter to use the deadwalkers as a distraction and slip away while Lexa and her crew try to fend them off." Octavia said. 

"Great idea O," I said. "Let'g get this door down."

We kicked and rammed and hit until the door came away in splinters. We filed upstairs and retrieved our weapons from the loft, where Echo stashed them after the negotiation. From there we headed out the back door and saw what was causing all the noise. There were 40 maybe 45 deadwalkers surrounding the porch, Lexa and the other had made shields for themselves and were shooting over the railing into the sea of decaying flesh. Echo and Lincoln were along the edges, keeping them off the porch and stabbing with long spears. They had a hold on the group for now, but there were about 20 more headed our way from across the field, and they would be overwhelmed soon. 

"I think our plan is going to work." Octavia said.

As we started to run around the porch to the other, safer side of the house, Lexa turned toward us and at first... she looked relieved. For a split second she thought I was there to help her. As she realized that we were escaping and she couldn't stop us, her expression turned from calm to afraid. Something I never expected to see her experience. 

"Fuckers!!" I heard Anya yell toward us as we ran further and further from them. We were on the grass now, heading away from the house and towards the woods. We reached the end of the clearing headed back into the woods when I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Clarke. Clarke! What are you doing come on!" someone yelled at me. I didn't see who. I was too lost in thought. My emotions were all over the place, what was I feeling? Was this shame? Pity? Loss? My memory flashed back to when it all first started. I was running from a deadwalker in the streets of downtown Denver and the person in front of me tripped, as I sped in front of them I looked back to see their throat being ripped out and their back clawed into until the meaty flesh of back muscles was exposed. That was the first time I saw someone die, and even though I didn't even know that person's name I saw the look in their eyes. Pure, unfiltered, absolute fear. That's the look I saw in Lexa's eyes. I turned around and sprinted back toward the house, not waiting for anyone to stop me. 

"Come back! You're going to get yourself killed! Clarke! Clarke!" I heard screamed at me.

I reached the porch again, by this time the second wave of deadwalkers had arrived but the initial group was cut back quite a bit. About 40 still remained. A massive deadwalker made it's way through the defensive line Lincoln and Echo established and headed straight for Lexa, she reached for her gun and pulled the trigger- but her clip was empty. She hurriedly fumbled for another clip at her belt but couldn't reach it in time. The dead reached her and flung out an arm, trying to grab a hold of her and pull her in. I saw Lincoln try to come to her aide but he was holding back four from getting onto the porch and couldn't ease up on his defenses. I raised my gun from the other side of the porch and took aim. 

"No one else is going to die if i have anything to say about it." I whispered out loud to myself. And I pulled the trigger. 

The deadwalker dropped to the deck with a force that shook the framing and broke a few planks. Lexa whipped her head around and met my gaze. She nodded toward me in thanks. Not long after the rest of my group was next to me and although they weren't happy with my sudden change of heart, they started shooting into the herd. We were all in adrenaline level survival mode, nothing mattered right now but killing the enemy and staying alive. Monty and Octavia were surrounded by five dead and no loaded clips on hand, Bellamy ran to the rescue but before he reached them Anya grabbed one by the top of its head and jammed a hunting knife into the base of its skull, protruding upwards until the tip of the knife stuck out of it's forehead. Lexa shot two of them in succession and then used a throwing knife to take out a third, leaving one standing that O stabbed down once she got her bearings. With all of us working together we cut the deadwalkers down to 11 and soon thereafter there was one left. It was crawling towards us on the ground, its legs chopped off at the knee. It's mouth was spitting and rasping at us, hungry for whatever we had to offer. Lexa sauntered up, no one else attempting to take the kill from her, she firmly placed her boot on it's head- stopping it from moving further- lifted her leg up, and threw it back down with all her strength. The blow cracked open the skull and the heel of her boot was now behind it's eye socket. She looked back, talking to all of us but looking directly at me and said, "We should clean this up." It was the first time she showed a sense of humor, and the first time I thought it may be worthwhile to join forces.

\---- 

We all participated in helping clear the yard. We stacked the dead bodies in a large pile far away from the house in the middle of the field. The stench would shield our scents and the wild animals would drag away most of the carcasses. While cleaning up I caught members of the other group stare at us. The look in their eyes was confused. Like they were trying to understand why we were helping them after they took us hostage. In retrospect, it was a little bit insane that we didn't take the opportunity to escape. 

"You know if you take a picture it'll last longer." Octavia smirked towards Lincoln, who stole glances at her every three seconds.

He flinched away went to the other side of the pile up, too embarrassed to be near Octavia's teasing.

Bellamy's eyes shot daggers through the back of his head as he retreated, he then looked at me for backup, wanting me to intervene and agree with him in his protective habits. 

"Hey don't look at me, this is your problem. Besides, he is cute." I shot back at Bellamy. The look of fury on his face was enough to make me smile so big that the turmoil of the past day didn't seem so bad. 

Now that the place was cleared out, we sort of just meandered around. Lexa and Anya hurried back to the house, for what, who knows. I didn't want to be around them more than I had to. As for the others, they were kind of growing on me. Echo and Octavia were comparing knives, stopping every once in a while to fling them at a nearby Maple, burying the blade into the trunk and reacting with a satisfied "Ohhhhhh nice". Lincoln was standing around trying to find tasks to do, more than likely so he could stay outside and watch Octavia. Meanwhile, Jasper and Monty were doing... I really don't know what they were doing. They had circuit boards and wires and lots of things I didn't understand. That left Bellamy, Raven, and myself- standing back and watching the others interact.

"I like these ones. "Raven said, "Its captain scary eyes and miss big boss that rub me the wrong way."

"As scary as they seem, i'm not intimidated by them anymore. I can tell it's just a facade. Besides I think I'm a better leader than Lexa is. I don't order you guy's to kidnap people for me." I said. 

"Clarke you sprinted into a pool of deadwalkers to save her." Bellamy retorted.

"I said she wasn't a good leader, not that I want her dead." 

"... Alright fair enough." 

"Do you two want to come inside with me, I feel like we have some unfinished business to attend to with 'captain big boss' and 'Miss scary eyes'."

"Its captain SCARY EYES and miss BIG BOSS. If you're gonna steal my nicknames you need to get them right Princess."

I couldn't help but smile. Things were alright after all.


	5. Compliment??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter with lots of dialogue. Friendships strengthen, compliments (kind of) are given, and pancakes are made (kind of).

A week had passed since the attack, the attempted escape, and the rescue; and things moved into a comfortable routine. I would wake up, eat breakfast, do a lap around the property to pick off any deadwalkers and check to make sure everyone was present and safe. After we saved Lexa and her group we had a conversation. She granted us our freedom but I declined the offer, we still needed to fix their radio. The rest of my group was upset with my decision until I pointed out to them that with more people in one group their watch shifts would be shorter meaning they'd be able to sleep longer. The first few days were odd, there was an unspoken tension between Lexa and I, we were both used to making most of the decisions and when our groups temporarily merged we butted heads. A lot. When it was time to start making plans for the next step in the journey to the coast Lexa was under the assumption that we would be parting ways, forgetting our encounter completely and moving on as if nothing had happened. I, however, was not going to let that happen.

"You hold us hostage to fix a god damn RADIO, we save your asses from a bloody grave, and then you just want to 'part ways' and continue as if you didn't put us through hell? No I don't think so. You need our skills and we need your skills, it would be smarter to stick together and move onward as one team." I said, finalizing the decision.

She argued with me for awhile, but eventually gave in, I think only to shut me up. I didn't have a doubt in my mind that she would try to brush us off later, but for now I got my way.

\----

"Why is Jasper with your group?" Octavia asked. 

We were sitting around a table playing cards, minus Lexa who was brooding over a window, again. 

"No offense! I just mean, Jasper's the only one who isn't ripped, tall, mysterious, and scary." She continued. Every one laughed in response.

"Im gonna take a little bit of offense to that." Jasper said smiling, and finishing his turn. 

Echo took it upon herself to explain, "We stumbled upon him the same way we stumbled upon you. We saw him wandering through a town, followed him until we knew where he would be headed, and sort of ambushed him... nicely. At first we wanted him for technological things we needed fixed, but after awhile he proved himself continually useful, and he didn't mind us so we stuck together." 

"Why did you choose to stay with them after they kidnapped you?" I asked him.

"They aren't that bad, and they protected me. I stand more of a chance surviving with four strong scary people than freely and on my own. Also, I think I bring some much needed approachability to the group." 

"That you do." Monty said. The two had grown close over the last week.

"Okay wait a second, if you have Jasper, who is able to fix things? Why did you need us? Your radio story seems to have some holes in it." I said, mostly toward Lexa. She turned from the window and addressed me, firmly, and to the point.

"We had been following you for a matter of days. We first took interest in your group when we watched Octavia bring down 10 deadwalkers by herself, from then we noticed more and more admirable, and needed, qualities from each of you. It was much easier and less risky to have a simple reason for your capture." She turned back to the window, ending the conversation.

The game of cards had stopped completely by this point, the conversation at hand was much more interesting.

"Oh.. well alright. I guess that's.. fair." I responded. 

"Wait wait, what 'admirable' quality did you find in Clarke? Her impressive and never ending bossiness?" Bellamy chuckled. 

I shot him a glare from my seat.

"Actually I noticed how she has a natural ability to lead." Lexa said, not more than a second later. 

There was small moment of silence. I looked toward Lexa, but she was still facing away from us, not letting me search her face for intention or emotion. 

She continued, "The intent of my words was not to be taken as a simple compliment, it was purely a deduction of my observations of your group, which is what Bellamy asked for. Now excuse me, the hour is late and I will be volunteering for first watch." 

She walked past everyone as if we weren't there, and retreated out of the room, disappearing into the lower levels of the house, and outside onto the lawn. 

"Yeah that was definitely a compliment." Echo said before picking up her hand and gesturing to Anya to take her turn that had been abandoned a few minutes previously. 

"Before any of you start making fun of me i'm going to go to bed, I suck at cards anyway." I said. 

"Yeah we know." Octavia said. "What?! You just said so yourself!" She said after she caught the stare I was sending her way. 

"Goodnight!" I said mockingly as I exited. 

\---- 

It was... I have no idea what time it was. It was late, and I couldn't sleep. I had fallen into a comfortable slumber pretty soon after retiring for the night but had woken up a short time later and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep my eyes closed. After tossing and turning and grumbling so much that Raven kicked me out of the room, I decided it would be worth it to take over for whoever was standing watch. I slipped on my boots and coat, then headed outside. It was much colder than it was the previous day. I always forget how much more of a chill there is at night. For a few minutes I just stood there on the porch, leaning up against the rail and looking out into the dark. The silence was nice, the world was so much more quiet now, but the noise I did experience was always that of panic, loss, and violence. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember the last time I laughed. 

A small creak behind me snapped my consciousness to attention. I held still and waited, a few seconds later there came another creak, this time closer. My heart started to beat harder and faster harder and faster, then I clutched the hunting knife strapped to my thigh, swung around, caught my assailant in the throat with my forearm, and pinned them to the outside wall of the house, knife pointed at the jugular with my free arm. My heart was still beating out of my chest, slowly coming out of the haze of my adrenaline I realized that my assailant was actually my ally. Lexa was pinned under my arm, face so stoic and still you never would have guessed that she had been attacked. I held my stance for a long second more, staring into her eyes to gauge if she really meant danger, and I found nothing. Just the intense stare from bright, daring, green eyes. I released my hold on her and lowered my knife before backing up. 

"Sneaking up on friends in the middle of the night is a good way to create some trust issues Lexa." 

"I didn't expect you to be so quick. If I would have guessed that my wellbeing was potentially in danger I would have been much louder. What are you doing outside at this hour? You should be sleeping."

"Sorry I wasn't aware that I had a new mom."

"My point is proven, you're irritable, sleep would help with that." 

"Aghh god you're so hard to- to- be around sometimes. I couldn't sleep I came out here to take over for whoever was on watch, that person is apparently you."

"I can assure you Clarke I am quite capa-"

"Wait a second you were on watch when I went to bed, that was HOURS ago. Why aren't YOU asleep? huh? huh?" I interrupted. 

"My team knows that I prefer to take longer watch shifts, that information didn't seem to be passed on to you and your friends, next time I will be sure to provide you with all the necessary information you need." 

"Disregarding how weird that is, I cant sleep and Raven kicked me out of the room, so you're gonna have to get used to a little bit of company." 

I moved back to the edge of the railing, lowering my guard and turning my back to her. She followed suit soon after and set her elbows down on the ledge. We were quiet for about 20 minutes, Lexa did about 5 rotations around the house in that time. She came back around for the fifth time and resumed her position, elbows on the railing.

"You know Lexa, I think this is the first time I've seen you not keep perfect posture." I said with a small smile, keeping my eyes ahead. 

"Though I may be bent over, my spine is still straight Clarke." She responded, giving the K in my name a sharp and resounding click. 

"Do you ever relax?" I was generally interested this time, not solely focused on poking fun at her. 

"I do relax. But not when I am in situations or around individuals that call for a professional and composed demeanor." 

I didn't want to point out that with that logic, she deems me as someone who doesn't require a composed demeanor. I was going to keep that tidbit of information for myself.

"Are you relaxed when you're with your group?" I asked. 

"Yes I am."

I was so excited to finally be chipping away at the wall around her, she was letting me in a little bit and I was going to pay as much attention to 'walls sort of kind of down' Lexa as I possibly could. 

"Do you ever like... make jokes?" That question earned me a hardened glare from her that shut me down from asking further questions. It was back to silence. 

About a half hour or so later Lexa informed me that she was retreating to bed and would send Lincoln to take her place on watch, I chose that time to follow her lead and try to sleep once more. After sneaking back into the room Raven, Octavia, and I shared I slowly sunk down into my pad on the floor. My eyes began to flutter close, and soon enough I was back asleep. 

The next morning treated me with smells of breakfast foods. Something I hadn't woken up to for months. It was odd and delightful enough to drag me out of bed and into the kitchen, hair a tumbled mess and eyes still carrying the last dregs of sleep. When I rounded the corner I saw Lincoln slinging pancakes out of a pan, I seemed to be the first one awake besides him. I gave him the most confused, amazed, facial expression I could muster and when he finally looked up at me he responded with a wide grin.

"Whoever lived here left a Costco size bag of bisquick. I used a substitute for almost every ingredient so no promises that they will taste normal, but it's a change from baked beans." he said.

"I- wha- good job." I responded, "but how is the stove top working?"

"The whole house runs off of wind power generated from a small windmill in the field, I had Monty and Jasper tinker with it yesterday and we got it to work."

"Damn. Might have to make a home out of this place."

"Ahh. Thats the thing, this breakfast is to sort of celebrate our moving on."

"Moving on?"

"Yeah." he said quizzically. "Did Lexa not tell you last night? We're leaving this afternoon."

"No... no she didn't tell me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted recently, I put out the first 4 chapters in 4 days but got a little lazy and just did this one. Hope you have enjoyed! Take a guess at who will be the first to share a steamy kiss


	6. Stiff Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa have a conversation, sort of, about Lexa's decision to continue on without them. Clarke makes a guess as to Lexa's motives and it leaves her shaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry about updating literally 7 months late. Life has been crazy. But im going to update at least once a week now I promise.

I didn't have a lot of time to process exactly how hard to punch Lexa in the face for betraying me, because right after Lincoln told me the news Echo, Anya, and Raven entered the kitchen.

"Goodmorning Princess, as soon as I smelled... almost pancakes, I knew I would find you up here." Raven said, looking over to Lincoln and eyeing the breakfast like a hawk.

"Yeah," I started to reply, "but what is even better is how Lincoln, our fellow comrade, made us all food out of the kindness of his own heart- to make us happy and energized, because he is a beautiful and perfect soul, not capable of evil and disgusting acts that others do without remorse." 

"... Clarke they're just pancakes." she replied after a moment of confused silence from everyone in the kitchen. 

There came a voice from the sitting room, just a few yards away, "I believe your leader is upset by the news that we will not be continuing on together."

There was some creaking, and then footsteps coming toward us- the owner of the voice rounded the corner and from the second she entered the room our gazes were on each other, mine full of hatred and hers full of indifference.

"The decision is for the best Clarke." Lexa continued.

"Well SOME of us don't believe this to be a dictatorship and would like to be included in these decisions." I retorted. Every moment I became more angry and more... disappointed. 

Lexa sighed and replied in an even tone, "Not every decision is yours to make. No matter what you may think, I am in charge, I always have been and I always will be." 

At this point Raven, Anya, and Echo were trying to be as invisible as possible, knowing that this was not their fight. Lincoln could sense exactly how hostile this altercation could become, so he did what any logical person would do...

"BREAKFAST IS READY EVERYONE COME AND EAT!!!!" he yelled, loud enough to wake everyone in a mile radius.

Lexa and I whipped around at the same time and just as we were about to give him a piece of our minds he cut us short and said, "You cant fight with everyone present, its not a good look. Besides, I did make food... and your bad vibes are strong enough to curdle the powdered milk."

I sighed, trying my hardest not to look in her direction because I knew as soon as I saw her i'd want to start up the fight all over again. I'd just have to wait for a time when we could tear each others heads off in solitude. 

\---

Breakfast went by as calmly as it possibly could given the circumstances. Lincoln's pancakes were edible, and everyone seemed in an alright mood- that is until Anya made the announcement. 

"So, i'm sure some of you know by now, but today we are heading out and continuing our journey."

"Really? Don't you think all of us should have gone over the map first?" Octavia cut in.

"Yeah so the thing is," Anya continued, "we're going to be leaving without your group. We believe it to be in our best interest to go separate ways."

There was a moment of silence, my group needed to process the new information. Throughout our time staying here (minus the first two days) we all seemed to get on fine- we were growing accustomed to life with more people to talk to and be around. 

"We got on perfectly fine before all of this started. Everything since we came into this house has just been a waste of our time. It's been good to get rested up but staying here has slowed us down." Bellamy said. I couldn't read his expression, he was absolutely emotionless. 

Octavia and Monty sat up a bit, meaning to say something but Bellamy shot them down with a single look. I knew that nothing we said would change their minds. The way Lexa looked when we were fighting told me that she had made up her mind a long time ago... maybe even the day we started working together.

"Uhh uh," Lexa cleared her throat drawing our attention to her, "we will be leaving in an hour, you're welcome to any provisions we may leave behind." 

"Wow you're so generous." I replied.

She looked at me, not at all shocked by what I said. We held each others eyes for a long time, just looking- feeling- searching. I couldn't find anything. Her eyes are so deep and so green but they held absolutely nothing, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find what she was feeling. Everything was strictly business, and strictly serious. I thought that our time joining forces had led to me chipping away at her walls, but its as if all of my progress has been obliterated. The other day I thought she was comfortable around me and now she's looking at me as if i'm nothing more than a failed business venture. 

"It is time for us to get packed." she said before she turned and left the room. Her group left after her- all of them looking back at us before turning the corner. Lincoln and Jasper looked the most disappointed, I knew that they would miss us. But the others wouldn't.

\---

It had been forty five minutes since the announcement, my group and I had been sitting throughout the house trying to figure out what to do. Monty suggested sneaking after them and making our presence known the moment they got in trouble, saving the day and forcing them to accept us (he was desperate to get jasper back). Octavia, ignoring her usual rationale, agreed (she was desperate to flirt with Lincoln more). Raven and Bellamy were defensive and insisted that we didn't need anyone else, they wanted to return to how things used to be and continue on our trip to the coast. Since it was tied, the decision came to me. When everyone turned my way waiting for my input I didn't know what to say. So I didn't say anything. I got up and walked out of the room. They all knew better than to follow me out. 

\---

Lexa was bent over a backpack, packing in jeans and t-shirts. She had changed since this morning, now wearing black denim with holes ripped in the knee and upper thigh, brown steel toed boots, and a thick belt with a short sleeve shirt tucked into it. She had tattoos on both biceps, although I couldn't make them out entirely.

"Are you here to tell me how generous I am Clarke?" There it was again, the sharp click of the K when she says my name. 

"As amused as I am that you made a joke, I am here to have a conversation with you, if you are capable of one." I said. 

"Yes I am capable, what do you need to discuss."

"Well, ignoring the fact that its totally obvious, Id like to talk about the decision you made. I need to know why you chose what you chose."

"Because the safety and wellbeing of my group is what is most important to me. The relationships I see forming could be detrimental to us. Monty and Jasper joke around so much that Jasper becomes essentially useless when his friend is around. Lincoln turns into an imbecile when Octavia is near, and having more people to worry about effects my leadership abilities."

"All Monty and Jasper need is a stern talking to, hell they aren't used to having new friends- i'd be pretty excited too! And you could whip Lincoln back into line with one glance, so i'm calling bullshit." I hesitated before continuing, "I think you're afraid."

She whipped her head around so quickly it made me jump. "Clarke, I am not afraid of a horde of deadwalkers, what makes you think i'd be afraid of a group of overgrown teenagers?" She hissed at me. 

"It's not that you're afraid of US... you're afraid of caring about more people. I can tell that past your hard exterior you love your group. You'd die for them. But it terrifies you that they could potentially die for you, and the thought of us joining you only increases that fear."

There was a silence that was so loud you could feel it permeate the air around us. Lexa stopped rummaging through her bag, stood up to her full height (perfect posture as always) and slowly turned to face me. 

She looked me dead in the eyes, freezing me where I stood, took a deep breath and said, "You will not come with us Clarke, end of discussion."


	7. Uh Oh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and the rest of the group continue on their journey and it's going about as smooth as it can go when you're surrounded by people trying to eat you. But what happens when they run into a threat that's a bit different from your run of the mill deadwalker?

A week had passed since we left the house, and left Lexa's group. After they left we stocked up on provisions from the house, and had a long talk. Getting attached to some of the others had left us sullen. When you aren't used to being around other living people it hurts even more when they leave. Monty took it the hardest, he tried to hide his tears but did a poor job of doing so. I gave everyone a good pep talk, talked about how strong we are, how capable, how independent. My words were geared to try and convince us all that we were better off as we were before- but even I doubted my own words. 

\--- 

"We need to go around this reservoir, there's a road that goes around the north end but also a foot trail that goes around the south. Which is a better bet? I really don't want to run into any more deadwalkers... please." Octavia was reading us the map, we had just fought our way through a pretty large group and we were all ready for the day to be over- even though it was barely 11 am. 

"Usually I would say the trail," Bellamy replied, as if he was the deciding factor,"but I've got a bad feeling about it, my gut is telling me the road."

"You're gut doesn't tell you anything, unless it's telling you that you're hungry." Raven retorted. "Decisions like this need more logical backing. Give me a GOOD reason in favor of the road and then maybe i'll listen to you." 

"Ugh, Clarke can you step in here?" 

My mind wasn't as present as it usually is. I had been feeling... lost. As these two were arguing I was looking out across the reservoir and thinking about the one thing you should never, ever, think about. The past. This would have been a perfect place for a summer getaway. I can already pick out what place i'd set my towel down on, I can picture us all in our swimming suits running into the water. Octavia would be swimming out as far as she could, Bellamy would be yelling at her to not to go too far out, Raven would be building a sand castle, Monty would be laying out on an inner tube, i'd be watching it all. Soaking in how NORMAL everything was. I would do anything for things to be normal, even if only for a day. 

"Princess!!" I snapped back into reality. 

"Yes, yeah sorry- Uh Bellamy I think you're right. The trail is giving me a bad vibe." 

Raven shot me a look that could kill. "Vibe? A bad Vibe?? We're making our decisions according to vibes now? What next, are we gonna start carrying crystals for good energy?"

"Oh cut it out Rae," Octavia chiming in now. "Our guts are important to listen to."

"Oh come on, you too??" Raven looked away from us and crossed her arms in a huff. "If Lexa and the others were here i'm sure they'd agree with me." As soon as the words left her mouth she realized the mistake she made. "Clarke I-"

The others looked to me expectantly, half bracing themselves for an outburst

I cut her off, "Raven. Dont." I started to pick up my things but then decided against it. "Okay actually, you know what-"

"Oh you really did it now" Monty whispered under his breath to Raven, receiving an elbow to the ribs as a result.

"If you value Lexa's supposed opinion so much, why don't you go find her? Because i'm not sure if you're aware, but she's NOT. HERE. Just do me a favor and trust your group mates okay? If the road turns out to be a bad idea then we owe you, but otherwise- shut up. And don't mention Lexa again." 

"I- I'm sorry CLarke.." Raven said, trying to get me to look her in the eyes, trying to see if I was okay.

My rant shut everyone up and we silently decided to continue, trusting Bellamy's gut and taking the road around the reservoir. His gut was right, we didn't run into any deadwalkers on the road, but we did run into something that would turn out to be much worse.

\--- 

The road led us to what looked like an old RV campground. After clearing the area and all the RVs for deadwalkers we decided to call it a day continue on tomorrow. We were just about to get a fire started when I heard something in the brush a little ways away.

"Hey, wait stop... quiet." I said, everyone froze and we all crouched down and got close. "Over there," I pointed, "I heard rustling that was a bit too loud to be a rabbit."

"I don't see anything." Monty said.

"Me either, but let's pack it up into one of these RVs, just to be safe." Bellamy replied.

As quiet as mice we gathered our belongings, erased any signs of us being out in the open, and retreated into one of the larger RVs. Once inside it felt like we time traveled 40 years in past. There was shag carpet, beads hanging over the doorway into the small room with the bed, and posters of rock bands hanging on every surface that you could stick a thumb tack into. 

"Groovy." Raven and Monty said at the same time, turning to each other to high five. 

Octavia and I peered out of the window, trying to find the source of the rustling.

"Guys shut up I think I see something." Octavia said, yelling in a whisper.

Now everyone was up against the window, all five of us with our faces pressed up against the glass. If anyone was looking toward us we wouldn't have been concealed at all, instead they would have seen five tired faces with noses smushed flush into a 3x4 window. 

"O, you're so full of sh- oh! I see it too! Right on the other side of the clearing behind that big Maple!" Raven said.

"Rae, none of us know what tree you're talking about just point would ya, not all of us are walking field guides." Bellamy whispered. 

"The one with the leaves that look like pot leaves you freakin' imbecile, did you ever read a book you-"

"You shut your mouth when would I ever need to kn-"

"GUYS!" I nudged them both, knocking them away from the window, "Another time! Okay?"

As it went quiet again, there it was. Movement just on the other side of the Maple across the way from us. Whatever it was moved fast, darting from one patch of tall grass to the other in a single second. My heart started pumping so hard I could hear it in my head. No one said anything but I knew everyone else was seeing what I was. It got closer and closer, until finally it was nearing the edge of the grass, about to be in the open. There was a long pause, the silence was deafening, the anticipation was exciting yet terrifying. We were all focused on spot we expected it to come out of and with a quick dash, it was finally out in the open. We all jumped as a reflex and then took a collective sigh of relief.

"I've never been happier to see a stupid deer." Monty laughed, saying what all of us were thinking. 

"Man, we must really be tired to get that worked up over something like that, hahah" I replied, sinking down to the floor and relaxing for the first time all day. 

Then, a loud boom sounded from what seemed like right outside the RV and immediately we ducked to the floor, then scrambled to our knees to look out the window.

"Fuck!" I said.

There on the dirt, was the crumpled bloody body of the deer, someone had shot it.

\---

"What do we do?? Guys what do we do?" Monty said in a panic.

"This is what we do," I said, putting myself in control. "We stay where we are and we wait. There is a good chance whoever fired that gun doesn't know we're here."

Just then there was a polite knock on the camper door.

"You still sticking by those words Clarke?" Raven said. 

There was another knock, this one a little faster, a little harder. Everyone looked at me, expecting me to be the one to greet our visitors.

"Fine, fine, i'll do it."

I stood up and made my way to the door. I reached out to take the handle, and pressed the button to open it very gently. The door opened with a creak and standing about five feet from the door was a single man with a very big gun, a very big gun pointed right at me. 

\---

"Alright blondie this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna step out of the trailer, walk toward me with your hands on your head, and then follow me." The man said.   
He was around Bellamy's height, with shoulder length brown hair parted in the middle (a bad look honestly). He had stubble that was quickly approaching a beard, and he was wearing black cargo pants (another bad look) with a grey cut off t-shirt and work boots. The cut off Tee showed his arms off well, making it very obvious that he was strong enough to hold his own and then some. 

"There is one of you and five of us, this is a pretty bold move Stranger." I said back to him. I wasn't about to go quietly. 

"There is one of me that is visible to you. I have anywhere between 4-7 others with me, all hidden in various places within a hundred yard radius from your camper there." he gestured toward the RV with the barrel of his gun.

Bellamy and the others were standing behind me at this point, their guns drawn and posed at the ready.

The Stranger continued on, "y'all so much as act like you're gonna take a shot at me and ill have that trailer looking like swiss cheese in a matter of seconds. This here is an AR-15, and all of my buddies have one too."

He was obviously the type of guy who drove a lifted truck, wore true religion jeans, and drank a Monster energy drink on the daily before the apocalypse happened. 

"Okay guys I think it may be best if I play along for a little, for all we know he could be full of shit." I whispered to the huddle of bodies behind me.

"Or he could be not full of any shit and murder you!" Raven aggressively whispered back. 

"I really don't see any other option here Rae, we're pretty vulnerable and pretty trapped. Let's just be thankful he only seems to want one of us." 

Before anyone could add on I turned toward the Stranger and nodded in acquiescence. I put my hands out toward him to show I wasn't holding anything and slowly raised them up to the top of my head. Then I stepped down onto the dirt with a soft thud and made my way to him slowly. I could feel the eyes of my comrades on me, I could feel how worried they were, how they were scrambling to try and think of a way out of this.

"There you go. Good girl." the Stranger cooed at me. I wanted punch him in his big fat head.

As soon as I got to him he grabbed my hands and tied them with paracord that he had on his side. The knot was quick and intricate. Not something I could get out of on my own. 

"Okay, you have me. What now? Where are you taking me? What do you want with me? What will you do with the rest of my group?"

"We don't care about your group. We could have used any of them- you just so happened to be the lucky one to answer the door. And what are we using you for? Oh honey, you're gonna be bait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoa ho ho, Clarke might be in some trouble yeah? Any guesses as to how the rest of the group is gonna get her out of this one? And who's the douchey Stranger with the Tr*mp complex?  
> Thanks for waiting patiently, more prompt updates are to come.


	8. Rescue, again...

I'm still a bit fuzzy about what happened after that. I didn't take the news of being bait lightly, and the Stranger bonked me over the head pretty good- being thrown over his shoulder was the last thing I remember. What i'm guessing was a few hours later I woke up. My hands were tied behind my back and there was something wrapped around my head, covering my eyes. I was moving. It must have been fairly quickly because wind was whipping my hair across my face. I tried to get a feel of my surroundings, struggling to focus and sit up straight since my head still hurt from the blow. I was sitting on hard metal, and it wasn't completely flat, there were bumps and grooves- so maybe the back of a pick up truck? a hauling trailer? I tried to listen closely to see if there were any sounds that would give away where I was- like they do in crime shows ya know? Church bells tolling, or a train, or construction sounds. But it's hard to do that when upwards of 75% of the world is dead and trying to eat your face, and last time I checked deadwalkers don't go to church, or improve infrastructure.

I wonder what Bellamy and the others are doing right now... probably freaking the fuck out. I hope doucheface was telling the truth when he said he didn't need anyone besides me. I spent the rest of the ride worrying about them, hoping that they were okay. 

\---

A little over an hour went by, and then we stopped. I heard a car door open, then close with a clank. My blindfold was untied and yanked off my face, rather harshly, and I could finally see my surroundings. My hunch was right, I was in a pick up truck, an old Ford with chipping blue paint and a broken back window. I looked around and saw that we had stopped in a clearing in the middle of some woods, right off of an old back road. There were a few run down cabins around the perimeter and judging by some dirty t-shirts on a clothesline and empty cans and wrappers littering the ground in various places, I assumed I was at their home base. Or at least temporary home base. 

My captors finally caught my attention after I surveyed the area. There was the man who kidnapped me, greasy and ripped as ever, then there were five more. Two of them were standing around the man I recognized and the other three were coming out of another truck pulling up behind us. 

"So, do I get any introductions? I prefer knowing the names of my sweaty kidnappers." I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. 

"Why couldn't you have got a quieter one?" a voice that I couldn't see the owner of replied. 

"Shut up." The man said. "I'm Roan, that's all you really need to know." 

"How hospitable, I feel so welcome." 

"You don't need to feel welcome Blondie, this isn't a party."

"Andreas get her out of the truck would ya?" Roan said to a large, and I mean LARGE tattooed man. He had two full sleeves to make up for his shirt that was barely a shirt. 

Andreas moved toward me and I shot up like a sprout. 

"Thank you but no thank you Andreas, I can get down on my own." 

"Hmphf." He replied. 

A man of many words, I noted in my mind. 

I hopped down and took a good look at the others. In additon to Roan and Andreas there were two more men, and two women. The two men looked exactly like Andreas did- big, beefy, and braindead. But the women had a lot more depth to them. One looked a bit older, her grayish blonde hair was up in a bun and she held herself with a grace that seemed very out of place next to her comrades. The other woman was younger, maybe around my age. She didn't appear too strong like the men, or intimidatingly regal like her older counterpart, but she was unsettling for some reason. I got goosebumps when I'd look at her for too long, and I had a feeling that she was the one I should be worried about. 

\--- 

The rest of that night went by quick. They holed me up in a cabin, locked the doors, and left me to die from boredom. From eavesdropping through the thin boards I found out the women were called Nia and Ontari- but I didn't know who was who. The other two men remained a mystery but their stature was the only thing that made them a threat. I was more concerned about Roan and the two women. 

I had so much time to myself, and there was so much to think about. My group, my escape plan, my growling stomach, but the questions I kept coming back to were: what the hell did they want with me, and what the FUCK was I going to be bait for? 

\---

Three more days went by without a single notable happening. I knew the inside of that cabin like the back of my hand but the more time went on the more I had no idea what the next few days might have in store for me. 

Finally, around mid morning the door opened and Roan stepped in, followed by either Nia or Ontari. 

"Hi Blondie." Roan said. 

"Hi, why am I here?" I replied. I was tired of wondering.

"That's what we are here to discuss with you." the woman said.

"So if it's a discussion then there is a chance that I can plead my case and you'll let me go?" 

"Okay so maybe it isn't a discussion." 

"Nia get to the point." Alright so this one was Nia. 

"We are using you for bait, girl. You see a few weeks ago we had a run in with another group. Young people like yourself. We simply wanted some of their provisions but an altercation ensued and it left one of our men dead. The group got away but we tracked them and eventually, we found them." She paused for a moment, looking me deep in the eyes, then continued. "Our plan was to lead a horde of deadwalkers to their doorstep and let the monsters do our dirty work. But we made a minor error, see... we didn't know that they were being accompanied by another group. Thus increasing their numbers and making their chances of survival significantly higher."

Oh no. I saw right where this was headed. Everything made sense. This explains the attack the night when we tried to escape. 

"Im sure you've put two and two together by now. See it's nothing personal against you, you are just unfortunately caught in the cross fire. But hey, at least your little friends are safe. Be grateful that we only took one."

"So what's your plan then? How do you know Lexa and the others will even come here, you think they have a mental connection with me or something?" 

"No," Roan spoke up, "Ya see, the first night you were here we sent out a radio message to all the frequencies we could. We know the little brats have a radio, so there's a good chance they heard it."

"Well, we split up over 10 days ago," I said, getting a little frantic, "Who knows how far away they are?"

"We do." Nia said. "They're about 15 miles east, and my guess is they show up after nightfall."

Shit.

\---

Night was fast approaching. They moved me from my cabin into the open, tied to a kitchen chair and surrounded by the two mystery men. The others were outside the cabins on the decks, looking out and trying to spot their awaited guests. Nia was the only one not outside. She seemed to be the ringleader, making the others treat her like a Queen. Which everyone seemed fine with, except for Roan. He exuded the "rebellious teenager" attitude. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. 

As I was looking around I heard a succession of gunshots about a quarter of a mile off, and then three bright red flares flew up into the sky. 

"Idiots," one of the big men scoffed. "They just gave away their position."

"They're not idiots," I said back. "Every deadwalker in a two mile radius at LEAST will now be headed straight for this campground." 

The two turned their heads to the flares, then to me, then to each other.

"I think she's right bro."

"But what if she's just trickin' us I dont thi-" 

"Shut up man she's smarter than us just li-"

"Are you callin me dumb you mo-" 

"BOYS!" Ontari called out from the deck she was sitting on. "Eyes on the prize. We need to get justice for them killing your friend. Blood must have blood. You're our muscle remember?" She added a little wink at the end.

They both blushed (it was kinda cute) then stood to full attention and whipped their eyes back towards the woods where the shots originated, furrowing their brows in concentration. 

Another hour passed before anything happened. Roan sent Andreas and Ontari into the woods to try and learn Lexa's exact position. But about 15 minutes after they left, trouble finally began. It started with a low moan, just off in the distance. 

\--- 

There were deadwalkers approaching, lots of them. Enough that I couldn't get an accurate count. The two large men were instructed not leave my side, but that quickly became a problem because Roan couldn't hold back the horde by himself. And Nia sure as hell wasn't about to lift a finger. 

"Zane, Xander, move her into one of the cabins now! Lock the doors, barricade the windows, then come and help me!" Roan yelled from across the clearing. He was mowing them down with his AK but there were too many for just one person to handle. I was growing nervous. 

Zane (no longer big guy #1) lifted me up, chair and all and sprinted into the nearest cabin. He threw open the door earning a shriek from Nia, lounging on the couch inside taking a beauty nap I suppose, he then proceeded to throw the furniture against the sparse windows with help from Xander. As quickly as they ran inside, they ran back out, slamming the door closed and locking it from the outside with a little click. 

"They are much faster than they look." I said, turning to Nia, forgetting for a brief moment that she was my enemy. 

She didn't look amused. 

"Be quiet, bait doesn't talk." 

"Well alright." 

All I could hear was gunshots and groans. I hated being stuck inside just sitting. I am not good at being a damsel in distress, I wanted to be the knight in shining armor. As time went on the gunfire got closer and I could hear Roan and the others shouting back and forth, it sounded like Andreas might have been back with them, but I didn't hear Ontari at all. Then, one of the trucks started and I heard yelling, the sound of the rumbling engine got closer and closer until I realized that it wasn't going to stop. I scrambled to my feet the best I could, the chair strapped to my back making me look like a scared crab. I jumped to the side of the room just in time as the truck barreled into the front of the building. It was all dirt and debris, I couldn't see anything. 

A strong pair of hands grabbed me by my shoulders a few moments later while another pair of hands cut the rope off of me. I wasn't hurt but I couldn't stop coughing from all the dirt in the air. As I was being lifted in the air and thrown over someone's shoulders like a sack of potatoes I heard Nia yelling for Roan, she sounded muffled- like she was buried under some of the debris. 

Then, we were running. Well, I was being carried, but whoever was holding me was running. We were out of the cabin and as i peered back I could see a frighteningly large horde behind us. The last thing I saw before we disappeared into the trees was Roan, Xander and Andreas running into what remained of the cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! I know this burning pretty slowly, but I promise some good clexa shit is coming. I wanted the story to be well developed so that the characters have lots of opportunity to grow closer naturally. Also! I chose to make some of the background characters (like Andreas and the brothers) not characters from the 100 because it can be tough writing each person to act and talk and behave characteristically of how they do in the show. And also cause they aren't super important to the story lol


	9. A Fight and an Agreement

"Lincoln you imbecile!" Lexa snarled.

Once we were far enough away from the commotion I got my bearings and was able to see who saved me. I was on Lincoln's shoulders and Jasper was running alongside us. The three of us made it to a small clearing in the woods a few moments later Lexa, Anya, and Echo had joined us. 

Lexa punctuated her insult with a hard bop on his head with her open hand.

"Um, OW!" he responded.

"That was every bit deserved and you know it." 

"The plan wasn't. working. Commander. Way more deadwalkers showed up than we anticipated, the ONLY way to get Clarke out quick enough was to break down the door."

"The DOOR Lincoln, not the whole fucking house!" Anya butted in.

Jasper raised his hand a bit and coughed, causing three angry war painted girls to whip their heads towards him. He jumped, took a step back, then continued, "I hate to be rational, but the deed is done guys. Not much we can change about it now. She is safe, so..."

I was expecting a harsh reply from Lexa but she surprised me, instead taking a deep breath, raising her leather clad hands to her head, and staying silent. 

"Lexa.." I spoke up. She turned her attention to me, as did the rest of the group. Our eyes locked together and the next few moments were dominated by a strong and unspoken tension.  
"Thank you. For rescuing me." I finished, my eyes still on hers.

"Technically it was Lincoln who rescued you." Jasper said. Echo slapped him in the chest and he shut up. 

"You were unfairly dragged into a fight that you had no part in Clarke. I am sorry that our past mistakes have caused you misfortune. We were merely doing our duty." She said, business as usual. 

"Well duty or no duty i'm grateful." I said, a little annoyed at her inability to just take a damn thank you and respond with a damn you're welcome.

"We should be getting along then. One of the others could be chasing after us. Onward."

"Are you gonna let me come with you this time?" I said sarcastically under my breath.

Lexa, who apparently has ears like a bat, responded without missing a beat. "Yes Clarke, you joining us would only be rational."

\---

We were jogging deeper into the woods for a measly 20 minutes before Anya stopped us. She slowly made her way up to where Lexa stood. 

"Commander. Behind us and to my left, about 70 yards." She whispered to her. Lexa was leading the line, following in order were Echo, Jasper, myself, Anya, and Lincoln holding up the rear. 

"I know." Lexa replied. Then in a louder voice she said, "Keep going!"

We started up again but I was confused. Why were we still jogging if we knew someone was tailing us, someone who now knew that we knew. Despite the apparent craziness of Lexa's decision no one else looked even the least bit concerned. I whispered to Anya behind me as sneakily as I could, "Why are we not stopped if we're being followed?" to which she replied, "There is always a method to Lexa's madness. It'd fare you well to just trust it." I was about to object but before I could I heard footsteps behind our pack- fast approaching, leaves crackling under their feet in a way that shows they were no longer trying to be hidden. I quickened my pace along when I felt Anya put a hand on my back and start to push me. I swiveled my head around to see Ontari, face dark from the ash of a fire, dagger in hand, and eyes so bloodthirsty they shot a shiver down my spine. As I was turning my attention back forward I saw another figure headed straight for our attacker. It was Lexa. She had given up her position at the head of the pack and was barreling straight into the eye of the storm.

\---

I let out a small shriek of protest but when I tried to stop Anya only tightened her grip on the back of my shirt and thrust me forward harder.

"What the hell are you doing we have to go help her fight!" I yelled.

"No one fights for the Commander but herself."

"That's ridiculous, right now it's six to one why risk Lexa getting hurt if we KNOW we can win?"

"Lexa and Ontari have history CLarke. This is not our fight and all of us know that. Except for you it seems." 

"So we're just gonna leave her back there because they have some petty drama?"

"No, we are going to get to a space where we have a clear vantage point to survey the area, making sure no one else comes to back up Ontari, but staying clear enough that none of us will get caught in the crossfire."

"Crossfire? We're hundreds of yards away by now how much distance could we possibly need?"

"You've obviously never seen Lexa fight."

\--- 

Anya was right. Any closer and I would have feared catching a rogue throwing knife to the jugular. Lexa fought with such a strength she had to have been combat trained before the outbreak. 

They'd been going at it for about fifteen minutes now. It seemed pretty evenly matched but Ontari was obviously losing steam. She was armed with a single dagger and a handful of throwing knives, and coming at Lexa, armed only with a knife, with everything she had. She swung her fist, aiming to connect with Lexa's jaw, but barely missed- Lexa dodging at the last second while also defending herself from Ontari's knife wielding hand, which came at her from the other side. She batted Ontari's blade away and counterattacked with a hard kick to the outer thigh, knocking Ontari off balance long enough for Lexa to get in a solid blow to the face. The punch didn't phase her much, she regained her balance and backed up enough to throw a knife in Lexa's direction. It didn't connect but cut close enough to tear the fabric of Lexa's shirt and draw a little bit of blood. Lexa didn't pause a single second before going into her next attack. She charged at Ontari, knife in right hand and jabbed toward her torso, jabbing again and again each time Ontari dodged and deflected her blade. She continued her barrage until she had Ontari backing up further to avoid her, she made one final jab- much harder than the others- that Ontari barely avoided. Then she brought her right foot up until her knee was almost touching her chin and smashed it down on Ontari's foot. Ontari jerked down as a reflex and found her face colliding into Lexa's knee. She then jerked back up, hands flying to her face for protection when Lexa delivered a swift punch to the ribs, then again to the other side, then a slash with her blade along Ontari's torso producing a sizable gash. By now they were backed up against a tree, Ontari crumbling further and further down the trunk of the tree with each blow and cut. She was huddled down enough to where her height had been halved when Lexa backed up a few steps, planted her right foot behind her, wound up, and delivered a killer roundhouse kick to Ontari's head. The girl fell hard to the ground with a thud you can't make when you're conscious, and without any more fuss Lexa brushed off her shoulders- she really brushed. off. her. shoulders.- and sauntered back to where the rest of us were crouched down. 

"Let's continue." She said.

\--- 

After the initial shock of what I just witnessed had worn off, it was a very pleasant to be around the group again. We had trekked on for another four or so miles to create some good distance between us and the cabins and set up camp underneath an old windmill. Now that we were all settled I had some questions that I needed answers to.

"So, now that we're all settled I have some questions that I need answers to." There was an audible groan from at least three of the five party members.

"It's been such a long day can it just wait for tomorrow?" Jasper said.

"No it needs to be now." Everyone looked toward Lexa, her decision would ultimately be the final decision. 

"Clarke you may ask questions as long as they are reasonable, but we reserve the right to not answer any as we see fit. And no more than five questions, my people are tired from rescuing you."

Holding myself back from saying something snarky, I started. "First question, how did you know where I was?"

"Radio message and tire tracks in the dirt. Next question." Anya answered. 

"Second question, do you know where the rest of my group is?"

"No. Next question." Anya, again. I watched Lincoln's expression darken at this. He must have been hoping that he'd see Octavia again. 

"Third question, what's the story behind the rivalry between your group and Roan's?" 

No answer from Anya this time. She was looking to Lexa, partly for permission to answer and partly with concern, a silent "are you okay" was in her eyes. Lexa spoke up, her body turned away from me and leaning against the makeshift walls around the base of the windmill. 

"In short, our groups were once one. But there was a constant power struggle between me, Nia, and Ontari. Nia wanted to be in control, with her daughter as her second, but I was afraid that with their rule we would be quickly led down a dark road so I resisited. The last straw was when we happened upon another group, traveling West. Nia insisted that they give us their small provisions of food- stating that as the larger group, we needed it more. When they refused she had Ontari kill one of them. A young boy, not more than 16 years old. She would have killed more if I hadn't stepped in. We stopped them from taking more lives, but some of us were badly injured in the fight. One of their own was killed, and Lincoln and Echo were close to dying- they had lost a lot of blood. This was not more than a few months ago, since then we have still been running from them."

"I'm- i'm so sorry. They told me a completely different story. Trying to paint you as the bad guys."

"I expect nothing less. But," she said clearing her voice, "the past is the past. We can only live in the present. Is that the last of your questions Clarke?" 

"No I have one more. Do you guys have any food?" A couple of them chuckled and Lincoln reached into a knapsack, tossing me a few granola bars. 

"Now that fun question time is over," Echo said mockingly, "can I take first watch? The sooner I get it out of the way the sooner I get to sleep like a rock."

\--- 

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the ground. They told me I didn't have to take a shift since i'd been freshly kidnapped but after a few hours of deep deep sleep I found myself waking up on my own. The world slowly came into focus around me, and for the briefest of seconds I was afraid, not knowing where I was or who I was with. The fear left as quickly as it came and I sat up, looking around me. I could make out everyone but Lexa, it must be her turn on watch. I creeped around trying to find her, doing my best not to wake any of the sleeping bodies on the ground around me. Finally, I spotted her just outside the "walls" we put up to conceal ourselves. sitting on a fallen log and looking out into the woods beyond us. She looked... calm? Not an emotion I thought could be attributed to this serious, strong, powerhouse of a girl. The full moon was blasting it's light down on her, as if it's sole purpose was to illuminate her and only her. Her curly brown hair looked like waves of chocolate in this light, and her olive skin was glowing. This sudden realization of her beauty stopped me in my tracks, it was impossible to tear my gaze from her. 

She must have heard me approaching because without turning her head she said, in a voice softer than I was expecting, "Couldn't sleep?"

"N-no, I guess my body is still processing all the excitement from the past few days." I shook myself out of my trance.

"Well you're welcome to join me if you don't think you'll be able to fall back asleep."

"Alright." I made my way over to the log she was perched on and sat next to her. Closer than I would have if anyone else would have been around. We sat in silence before she broke the still moment.

"Are you okay Clarke?" The question threw me off guard. "Did they... do anything to you?"

"No- no- they didn't.. do anything to me. They only seemed interested in hurting you."

She faced me now, green orbs illuminated by the moonlight, damn that moonlight.  
"I believe Nia's intention was to hurt you in order to hurt me Clarke. I'm surprised that there aren't more signs of physical abuse on you." 

"Why would they use me specifically? Roan said that they would have taken anybody from my group." 

"He was likely telling the truth, but Nia uses more than just physical combat to her advantage Clarke. The worst of her attacks are emotional and mental. The situation could have been much much worse for you if Nia had even an inkling that you and I were more than traveling companions."

"Are you saying that if you and I were lovers, or even close friends, Nia would have cut off my head and sent it to you in a box or something?" 

Without even flinching she replied, "Yes, something like that." 

"Well good thing you just tolerate me then. I'd rather be shunned and alive than accepted and headless."

"You are still upset by my decision to go separate ways." She said, a statement, not a question. 

"Yes, i'm still upset Lexa. You've got to admit that was a little heartless. Even for you."

"I am not heartless Clarke. I am just not weak. I make tough decisions that will benefit everyone in the long run. When you're a leader you have to be able to make choices that will save lives even if others don't see what you see." She spoke diplomatically. You couldn't help but hone in on every word coming out of her mouth.

"You think that if we stayed together people would have died? Lexa we split up two weeks ago and people still almost died. I was fucking kidnapped and used for bait for crying out loud." 

"I understand that you're upset, but I stand by my decision. If we would have continued on together there would have come a day where Nia caught up with us, and she would have seen how close together we all grew. Clarke, she would not hesitate to kill you or Monty or Bellamy or any member of your group in cold blood if she knew that it would cause me emotional turmoil. It'e enough of a risk as it is just having my own group to worry about."

I finally understood. Lexa wasn't selfish, she was scared that Nia's hatred of her would get others hurt. By forcing us to go different ways she was protecting us, or at least trying to. 

"I understand Lexa." 

"I'm glad Clarke."

"But I still want to travel with your group."

"Wha-I- You just said you understood!" She was getting flustered, I tried to not think about how cute it was. 

"I do understand! But Nia already knows we were together at one point, so chances are she'll try her little game again. Strength is in numbers! We might as well make ourself one big, strong group, and when our paths cross again we'll stop her once and for all." 

Lexa sighed. She was trying to find a counter point strong enough to satisfy me, but after a minute or two of thinking, she had nothing. "I see no better alternative to your idea Clarke. Though, i'm not happy to be saying this. I think you're right."

"Ugh those words are music to my ears Lexa. So it's a deal. From here on out we work together, our first mission being to find my friends." 

"I tell you you're right one time and here you are making mission plans for us."

"... was that sarcasm ? From you? Did you just use sarcasm??" 

"Once again, I am capable of humor Clarke." 

"Hm. I'm still not convinced. You'll have to try a little bit harder to convince me you're a real person and not a robot in a people suit."

"That is ridiculous and a bit insulting CLarke, I don't appreciate yo-"

We bantered back and forth, with intermittent periods of comfortabel silence until the sun started to rise. Then it was time to move on once again and start looking for the others.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next chapter is gonna be a quick little filler chapter with some light hearted group bonding and a little bit of flufffffff to satisfy your gay little hearts


End file.
